The first
major storm of the season finally arrived, coming
in from the northeast instead of the usual
northwest route. Thus, it's arrival on Sunday was
a surprise to everyone and especially to anyone
caught out in the San Jacinto Mountain wilderness
area. RURU was called out on a Tuesday afternoon.
Four people were overdue on a two day round trip
hike from Humber Park to the upper Tramway
station, and back. We had information that a
ranger had talked with the hikers at the Hidden
Lake divide on Monday morning and because of
threatening weather the hikers decided to cut
short their trip and return to Humber Park.

We arrived at
the upper Tramway station late Tuesday evening
only to find that possibly two more solo hikers
may also be missing (See missions 1985-049 & 1985-050). Two teams were sent into the
field that night, one team to Hidden Lake divide
in search of the party of four, and another to
Round Valley for the solo hikers. It had snowed
hard all day Monday and Monday night so the snow
was very soft and deep. Some of us could not stay
past midday the next day due to job commitments
so it was decided that group would form a team to
break trail to Hidden Lake divide and return to
the upper Tramway station, thus leaving a fresh
team at the divide for an early start on
Wednesday morning. Randy Iwasiuk, Mel Krug, Kevin
Walker and myself were trailbreakers and Rick
Pohlers, Rob Gardner, Ray Hussey, Joe Erickson
and Cameron Robbins were left at the divide.
Others were sent to the Round Valley area at the
same time to search for the two solo hikers.

The
snowshoeing went slow as the wind was picking up
and the snow was so deep. In many places we were
wading through up to our thighs. With the cloud
cover and a new blanket of snow it was hard to
find our way in the darkness but I must
grudgingly admit that Kevin did a great job in
getting us to our destination with very little
waste of time in route finding. It took almost
three hours to get to the divide and once there
some of us went to the edge and tried calling out
but there was no reply. The rest were putting up
tents or bivvy sheets to spend the night. Four of
us then went back to the upper Tramway station.
The trail was now well packed and marked so what
took almost three hours going one way took only
thirty minutes to return. We got back to the
Tramway about midnight, rolled out our sleeping
bags and got some sleep.

Landells
Helicopter Service was contacted and would be
landing on top of the upper Tramway station at
first light. Mel and Randy had to be back at work
so Kevin and I were available for one quick
search in the helicopter before we too had to
return to work. Pilot Steve DeJesus was right on
time so we took off with Kevin and Steve in the
nice warm front seats (with heaters) of the
helicopter, and me in the back (without the back
doors on) of the bird. It was very cold and major
wind chill factor back there at that time of the
morning. We searched along Willow Creek drainage
to Caramba and along the drop into Tahquitz
Canyon. We searched up Willow Creek and over to
Saddle junction, when I thought I saw someone
waving to us. The trees were so thick that it
took two more passes to locate the waving man
again. We could only see one person but it was
our only hope so far. Steve let Kevin and I off
at Tahquitz Meadows and we zeroed in using the
hovering helicopter as a guide. When we got to
them it was indeed our four missing hikers.

They were all
okay though cold and hungry. They said they had
been to Hidden Lake divide and had turned around
in the face of the storm. There was very little
snow on the ground at that time but as they hiked
along, the storm picked up until it was a virtual
whiteout. They could no longer find the trail so
they stopped and set up one of their two tents
and waited the storm out. A wise move as the
storm got much worse before it cleared up. Their
stove quit working so they were soon out of water
and couldn't melt snow for more water, nor cook
any food. It had been a long cold day and night
for them.

We radioed out
that we had found the subjects and we needed more
snowshoes and people to carry the subject's gear
out to the helicopter. Members from RMRU, San
Dimas, and Sierra Madre SAR teams were flown in.
We got everyone and all the gear back to Tahquitz
Meadow. Everyone was flown out, thus ending on a
high note, another successful RMRU mission.

P.S. I have
been on search and rescue teams for over eight
years and this was my first real "find"
of my own. Being volunteers our only pay is
thanks from the people we help and their friends
and relatives. I've been on a lot of missions but
these people through their letters, Christmas
cards and donations have made the past eight
years of literally blood, sweat and tears
worthwhile for me. Thanks to all of you who
support us.